


so well deserve our love

by consumptive_sphinx



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1790s, M/M, Mind Control, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 19:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13688691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consumptive_sphinx/pseuds/consumptive_sphinx





	so well deserve our love

One could — if one had the inclination — call it love at first sight. 

Gabriel knew he wanted Valentine Carter from the moment he saw him. It wasn’t difficult; Valentine was charismatic, attentive,  _ beautiful. _ It would have been nigh impossible not to want him. 

What was difficult was getting him alone. Valentine Carter was well-liked, always surrounded by people, and it appeared that he enjoyed their company too. It was the better part of two months, two months in which Valentine Carter occupied every corridor Gabriel walked down and every room Gabriel happened to be in, before Gabriel managed to find an excuse (paper-thin, but that was all right; paper-thin was all that it needed to be) to pull him into an unoccupied corner of library. 

“Westwood,” said Valentine Carter, and then stopped — Gabriel was kissing him. 

It didn't last long. It didn't need to. Gabriel hadn't had a chance to really  _ practice _ but it only took a few seconds to reach into Valentine’s mind and take one thing — especially the thing he was currently focused on — and twist it just that little bit,  _ you love kissing me.  _

Which was good, because it was only a few seconds before Valentine wrenched himself away. “Westwood,” he said again, breathless, “what was that?” 

“You've been flirting with me for a month, Carter,” Gabriel said. It could even have been true; if Gabriel hadn't known from constant observation that Valentine was like that with everybody, smiled like that at everybody, seemed that attentive to everybody, it would have looked very much like he was flirting. His hands were still on Valentine’s shoulders, his arms around Valentine’s neck; he took advantage of the continued contact, reached and twisted and reached and twisted,  _ you love spending time with me you love talking to me you don't like walking away from me —  _

Valentine wrenched himself away again, this time with far more effort. And he shook his head, and he turned, and he left. 

And he looked back over his shoulder at Gabriel as he went, and if Gabriel wasn't mistaken — which he knew full well he wasn't — Valentine had  _ longing _ written into every line of his face. 

 

 

“Are you all right,” John said, carefully. Valentine barely heard him. It had been a week since that day in the library, and Valentine couldn't stop thinking about Gabriel Westwood, couldn't stop thinking about the warmth of his mouth or his eyes dark and pleading as he looked up at him. 

“I’m all right,” Valentine said, and shook himself alert. 

John was watching him with undisguised worry. “Are you sure?” He'd always worried about Valentine just a little bit more than was warranted, which was usually endearing but right now was — something. Valentine wasn't sure how he felt about it now. “You aren't usually this distant, Val.” 

He  _ wasn't _ usually this distant, it was true. But — Gabriel Westwood moved in his peripheral vision, a motion of smooth skin and reddish blond hair, and Valentine couldn't keep his eyes away from him. 

John tracked his gaze to where it fell on Westwood, and frowned. 

 

 

It's another week from there before Valentine Carter pulled  _ him _ aside, this time into the dormitory that Valentine shared with a young man whose name Gabriel had never bothered to learn. “I can't stop thinking about you,” Valentine said, pressing his body into Gabriel’s and pressing Gabriel into the wall. “I can't keep my eyes off you, I can't get the taste of you out of my mind —” He unwove Gabriel’s hair from its queue, twisted his fingers in it, moaned low and long. 

Gabriel reached up to lace his fingers behind Valentine’s head, leaned up and kissed him open-mouthed. 

Valentine kissed him back this time, wanting and nearly-desperate.  _ “Mmmm _ — Westwood, I  _ want _ you,” he whispered between breaths, “want you so bad, I've wanted you for weeks,” and Gabriel smiled against his mouth. Reached into his head and twisted and reached and twisted while the contact lasted,  _ it's so difficult interacting with John, you can't imagine anything less rewarding, but you love staying with me, you can't stand being taken away from me,  _ and Valentine moaned and pressed Gabriel against the wall even harder. 

“Gabriel,” Gabriel said against Valentine’s mouth. “Call me Gabriel.” 

_ “Gabriel,”  _ and maybe the sentence would have continued, but Valentine was too busy kissing him to finish it. 

 

 

John was, objectively, the same as he had always been.

He  _ was.  _ John Carter was just as kind, just as sincere, just as protective, just as brave, as he always had been. All of the things Valentine had loved in him for years were still there. 

It was only that — everything Valentine noticed and loved in him before, he no longer loved in him now. 

John’s protectiveness, always endearing before, now felt only like a cage. He was still attentive, but now it did not feel like regard but surveillance. The quirks that had been endearing, even adorable, were now irritating. 

Whatever had gone away might still come back. And Valentine didn't want to be the sort of man who dropped his loved ones at a whim. 

 

 

But. But.

 

 

It wasn't that John hadn't known that something was wrong. Val was good at pretending but he wasn't good enough to hide the way his eyes followed Gabriel Westwood, wasn't good enough to hide the tiny flashes of irritation whenever John opened his mouth, wasn't good enough to hide the tension in his limbs when he and John were tangled together. 

John had been dreading this moment for weeks, but in the moment, it was almost a relief when Val finally said something about it. 

“I'm sorry,” Val began. “John, I'm so sorry, it isn't a failing in you, you are as strong and brave and kind as you always were, it's just —” 

In other words,  _ It isn't you, it's me. _ “I know,” John said. “I understand.” He didn't, actually, but Val looked like he was going to cry, and it wasn't like John hadn't been expecting this. 

Val nodded, quick and sharp like he was trying not to think about what he was doing. 

John had wished before that the two of them had shared a dormitory. Now he was indescribably grateful that they did not: Val had seen him cry before, but John had no wish for him to do so again. 

 

 

“I love you,” Valentine said to Gabriel, “I love you, I can't stand not being near you,” and Gabriel tucked his chin over Valentine’s shoulder and smiled. “I —” Valentine stopped, leaned closer to Gabriel. 

Gabriel didn't bother to point out what would happen if they were caught; Valentine surely knew. He just pulled him closer still, and kissed him, and didn't bother to change a thing. 


End file.
